Live Music Capitol

LMC’s The Revealed Party

adam — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 06:31:34 +0000

Live Music Capitol

also presents

The Revealed Party

a HOPE fundraiser

March 17th-19th @Project Imagine 3421 Cesar Chavez 78702

There will be 33 of the best undiscovered hand picked bands at Austin’s most beautiful outdoor venue on the river bank. LMC’s The Revealed Party brings 20 of the best nationally-touring underground bands as well as hand-picked locals to one place for three days and nights of psychedelic sights and sounds under the stars. Get on the guest list by RSVP’ing your name to contact@livemusicapitol.com

Food by Ararat and Starlet Sweets

Come support the backbone of the music and art community and bear witness

as the underground church is REVEALED!

Saturday March 19th 2011

DJ Danbone 7pm-12am (between bands)

12am *SPECIAL GUESTS*

11pm GROOMS (Brooklyn, NY)

10pm BAD GIRLFRIEND (Brooklyn, NY)

9pm CONSTANTINA (Belo Horizonte, Brazil)

8pm THE DEWARS (W. Palm Beach, FL)
7pm THE DAMN TIMES (ATX)
6pm DAD JIM (ATX)
5pm THE HIGH DIALS
4pm MIDWEST HYPE (LaPorte, IN)
3pm SUBJECT TO CHANGE (Corpus Christi, TX)
2pm doors open

Friday March 18th 2011

1am 3D FRIENDS (ATX)
12am ELEPHANT STONE (Montreal, Canada)
11pm CARTRIGHT (ATX)
10pm GRINGO STAR (Atlanta, GA)
9pm OCHA LA ROCHA (Atlanta, GA)
8pm TIJUANA BIBLE (ATX)
7pm THE HARLOTS (Brooklyn, NY)
6pm CHARLIE HURTIN & THE HECKLERS (ATX)
5pm MINIBOONE (New York, NY)
4pm RENE BRETON (Nashville, TN)
3pm DENS (Austin, TX)
2pm GERONIMO (Austin, TX)
1pm doors open

Thursday March 17th 2011
12am BLACK MOON (ATX)
11pm GIFT HORSE (Athens, GA)
10pm WHITE LACES (Richmond, VA)
9pm ROYAL FOREST (Austin, TX)
8pm CARNIVORES (Atlanta, GA)
7pm CURTIS JAMES (of Harlem) & GRAPE ST. (ATX)
6pm JIM & THE TOMS (Houston, TX)
5pm SPACE FUZZ (Corpus Christi, TX)
4pm BLACK BONE CHILD (Louisville, KY)
3pm THE BAR REEDS
2pm doors open

Special thanks to our growing list of sponsors: Live Music Capitol, Kepler Events, Forward Motion Entertainment, Stone Fox Booking & Management, Full Service Music, The Red Barn Theater, Fifth Ace Records, Ionic Music Management, The Capitol Production, The HOPE Foundation, Big Time Promotions, Austin Underground, and Project Imagine. Email contact@livemusiccapitol.com to become a sponsor.

http://www.myspace.com/thebadreeds

Official Psych-Fest 4

adam — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 08:12:56 +0000

Live Music Capitol presents
in conjunction with our sponsors
AUSTIN PSYCH-FEST 4
March 16th-19th @ The Eastern
1511-B East 6th st.

Live Music Capitol, LLC’s fourth annual AUSTIN PSYCH FEST, Austin’s premiere podium for bands of the psychedelic garage cult of sound, will take place at the brand new club The Eastern at the intersection of Comal and East 6th Street, on the lunatic fringe of mainstream SXSW mayhem downtown. 22 international underground rock bands will play Austin’s definitive indie concert series.

Trace the ancestry of psychedelic rock ‘n’ roll and you will ultimately land in 1960’s Austin, where the legendary 13th Floor Elevators and the Vulcan Gas Company spawned the mind-expanding genre. Live Music Capitol’s PSYCH FEST is dedicated to the preservation and advancement of the city’s deep-seeded hallucinogenic heritage and world famous history of live music. Great acts like Dead Meadow, A Place To Bury Strangers, The Warlocks, The Vandelles, The Strange Boys, and Sky Saxon of The Seeds have all graced the stage in past years. The 2011 bill is brimming with the same caliber of fuzztone prophets as years prior.

Whether you’re local or just visiting, there’s no better way to immerse yourself in the musical culture of Austin’s past and present than LMC’s AUSTIN PSYCH FEST 4.

Saturday March 19th 2011

11pm Gringo Star (Atlanta, GA)

10pm The High Dials (ATX)

9pm The Astronaut Suit (ATX)

8pm Ocha La Rocha (Atlanta, GA)

7pm The Types (Moscow, Russia)

6pm Cartright (ATX)

5pm The Boxing Lesson (ATX)

4pm The Harlots (Brooklyn, NY)

3pm The Janes (ATX)

2pm Rene Breton (ATX)

1pm The Gold Sounds (Houston, TX)

12pm doors

Friday March 18th 2011
1am Virtual Virtigo
12am 215 The Freshest Kids
11pm Kaizan
10pm Parking
9pm Neans
8pm Sweaters
7pm We Were the States
6pm The Clutters
5pm Turbo Fruits
4pm Pujol
3pm Hundred Visions
2pm Generationals
1pm Japanther
12pm Doors

Thursday March 17th 2011
12am *Special Guest*
11pm Black Bone Child (ATX)
10pm The Bad Reeds
9pm The Daze (ATX)
8pm Elephant Stone (Montreal, Canada)
7pm The Janes ATX
6pm Guadalupe Plata (Andalucia, Spain)
5pm MiniBoone (New York, NY)
4pm Bad Girlfriend (Brooklyn, NY)
3pm Punk Drunk Love (ATX)
2pm Ash Gray & The Girls (New York, NY)
1pm Doors

Wednesday March 16th 2011

FIGO (DJ SET) 7-11 PM

Megaphonic Thrift (Norway)9:30-10:00

New Moods (NYC) 8:50-9:20

Millionyoung 8:10-8:40 (Boca Raton)

Young Magic (Chicago/NYC) 7:30-8:00

Ringo Deathstar (Austin) 6:50-:720

Hooray for Earth (NYC) 6:10-6:40

My Education (Austin) 5:30-6

Bambara (Athens, GA) 4:50-5:20

Caveman(NYC) 4-4:40

Doors 3 PM

Special thanks to our growing list of sponsors: Live Music Capitol, Forward Motion Entertainment, Kepler Events, Stone Fox Booking & Management, Full Service Music, The Red Barn Theater, Fifth Ace Records, Ionic Music Management, The Capitol Production, The HOPE Foundation, Big Time Promotions, Austin Underground, and Project Imagine. Email contact@livemusiccapitol.com to become a sponsor.

Eastside Studio Tour 2010

adam — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 04:13:55 +0000

Grupo Fantasma

Andy — Wed, 05 May 2010 16:18:10 +0000

One of the hardest working bands in show business, Grupo Fantasma, performs on its home turf this weekend for back to back shows at Antone’s. The eleven piece rotating funk ensemble will be supported by the Latin indie lounge of Charanga Cakewalk on Friday, and the Hispanic alt-rock of Maneja Beto on Saturday, both locals. Fantasma’s new album, El Existential, was recorded at the group’s house in Austin, in true local style. Look for it May 11th, with special guest appearances by guitarist Curt Kirkwood of the Meat Puppets and distinguished pianist Larry Harlow.

AV Club “Undercover”

Andy — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 23:23:43 +0000

The AV Club has launched a new web series in which noted contemporary musical groups come into their Austin office-turned-recording studio and lay down a cover version of a classic (or not so classic) track, chosen from a list which they are provided with upon arrival. Check out episode #1, in which Ted Leo & The Pharmacists endeavor to take on Tears for Fears, HERE.

Psych-Fest 3

Andy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:41:28 +0000

On March 18th-20th 2010 at 501 E. 6th Street (corner of Neches above Coyote Ugly) in the heart of downtown Austin, Live Music Capitol presents PSYCH FEST III.

Austin Psych-Fest aka Psych-Fest was first produced by The Capitol Production, LLC. back in 2008 at the Red Barn Theater, LLC. Both companies were formed by Adam Demetri in 2008 with the sole purpose of producing Psych-Fest. LMC, along with the help of a huge community of international artists, musicians and independent producers as volunteers, has been throwing some of the best underground events, private parties and festivals that Austin, TX has ever seen. After 2009′s sequel Psych-Fest 2 at the Radio Room and the private party at Project Imagine (Bill’s Place), LMC has now expanded into two international music festivals, with the addition of the new LMC-IMC (Live Music Capitol-Independent Music Conference), coming in April 2010. For the first time ever, LMC is able to offer all three days of Psych Fest for free, as our way of saying thanks to all independent businesses, underground artists and past volunteers. There will be free drinks and food thanks to the generous support from our sponsors LuvRock Records, Stony’s Pizza, The Capitol Production, ToasT, Xfoos, The Austin Underground Film Society and Feral Cinema.

THURSDAY MARCH 18th (show starts 6pm)

The Runaway Suns (Brooklyn, New York)

(special guest) Poe’s Voodoo Room (Austin, Texas)

Ash Grey & The Girls (New York, New York)

The Daze (Austin, Texas)

The Astronaut Suit (Austin, Texas)

The Flying Eyes (Baltimore, Maryland)

FRIDAY MARCH 19th (show starts at noon)

Montana 1948 (San Francisco, California)

Ash Grey & The Girls (New York, New York)

The Flying Eyes (Baltimore, Maryland)

Little Secrets (New York, New York)

The Wild Ones (undercover band secret show)

Daniels and Animals (Austin, Texas)

Jason Simon of Dead Meadow (Los Angeles, California)

The Chibas (Austin, Texas)

Prayer For Animals (San Marcos, Texas)

Cartright (Austin, Texas)

Gringo Star (Atlanta, Georgia)

Saturday, March 20th (show starts at 2pm)

Montana 1948 (San Francisco, California)

Bottomless Psychedelic Mimosa Brunch w/ Ugly Lion

Strawberry Jam (College Station, Texas)

The D.A. (El Paso, Texas)

DJ Metranohm (Austin, Texas)

FunkOtron (El Paso, Texas)

DJ Ninja Nation (Nevada City, California)

ToasT (Austin, Texas)

Solillaquists of Sound (Orlando, Florida)

art work by Amanda Wallace and Devour Art and live light projections

33 1/3: The Strange Boys

Andy — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:47:05 +0000

Garage Revivalists

by D. Patrick MacCready

[Given the recent success of The Strange Boys and the release of their new album, here's a look back at a heretofore unpublished review of their first full length, as a precursor to our upcoming review of their sophomore album. All photos taken by Francis Joseph Cruzada at the band's appearance during the 2009 Austin Underground Film Festival -ed.]

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When I first saw The Strange Boys back in 2007, their surfy analog sound caught my attention. The mid-range moan of the band reminded me of a drunk and depressed Buddy Holly on helium; they had supremely hip tone. Their first full-length LP–righteously produced in a garage–is a retro-raucous juke, fluently illustrating the band’s straightforward sound, achieved in live performance. A myriad of bands claim influence from early Kinks and Rolling Stones, but few revive the tonality of 1966 as well these emigrated Austin mods.

“…And Girls Club” cuts right into some shucking kitschy blues with “Woe Is You and Me,” the jaunty starting gate to side A. Those not indoctrinated will get the whine and moan of Ryan Sambol off the cusp, shadowed with an oddly-infectious howling gang vocal. “They’re Building the Death Camps” will quench a thirst for Caucasian blues with its Telecaster-slung, Captain Beefheart groove. The title also appreciates, even if it’s kidding. Singing about FEMA camps might not mesh elsewhere, but in the conspiracy hub of North America, it’s playfully iconoclastic.

The subsequent “Should Have Shot Paul” is a tongue-in-cheek mash up of undeviating golden oldie revere that supposes filler with its melodious yet repetitious presumed Beatles rib. Arguably the side A zenith is “This Girl Taught Me a Dance,” a jump and snap garage-stomp bordering the gates of perfection. The swaggering classic tone found throughout the record is highlighted with a minimalist lead guitar, surf-born clap track and two-chord shakedown. “Heard You Want to Beat Me Up” warns of pissing off that jealous boyfriend with uniformed R&B structure, poppy rhythm and tambourine high hat. The band strokes Gerry and the Pacemakers’ sensibilities with “No Way For a Slave to Behave,” which sounds like a late 50s/early 60s mainstream lullaby.

The record flip’s “Poem Party”and later “A Man You’ve Never Known” exercise the best attributes of inoculating snotty garage and soul: momentous rockin’ rhythm.

“…And Girls Club” paves over the pitfalls of shoe-gazing with evocative charm and skiffle, conscious intonation apathy and shameless golden-era garage fundamentals. A vintage croon and jangle earmark every track. The Strange Boys also exercise the trendy sense of comedy and fun often attributed to the VICE Records suite–not so much as counterparts “King Khan and BBQ Show” or “The Black Lips”–but enough to suspect that they (like their counterparts) have a healthy sense of irony about their craft.

New fronts in the 60-year-old art form are not utterly absent from the album, but practically. These guys don’t prescribe to the concept of necessitous advancement in rock ‘n’ roll and further suggest it to be something of a golden calf. Those looking for any tangible modern rock dynamics will be disappointed indeed, because every limb and facet of the record is antiquated by design. This is a throwback party record, latent with simplicity; bone dry on chart potential. But “..And Girls Club,” with basic rock underpinnings, pleases with a notable vintage tone not usually synonymous with new vinyl…. it must be those garage acoustics!

The Strange Boys’ first full length LP is a fashionable, linear embrace of an emerging cult of sound. Waterloo Records has The Strange Boys’ “…and Girls Club,” sixteen tracks and two sides, for a moderate $10.99 on The Black Lips’ homestead, In the Red Records. Send me your tunes if you think I’ll surf to them, but in terms of a review it must be VINYL.

It Came From Detroit

Andy — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 20:32:53 +0000

by Jami Villers

It Came From Detroit is the ultimate look into the Detroit garage rock scene. From the early days of Motown to the hugely influential band The Gories, from The Dirtbombs and The Hentchmen to the mainstream wunderkinds The White Stripes, this documentary provides an in-depth examination of the music of Detroit Rock City.

Producer Sara Babila with Director James R. Petix

James R Petix’s first feature-length film is clearly a work of passion. The film is well-researched and thorough, with interviews that are candid and insightful. The city is depicted as ugly and desolate, a place that boomed 50 years ago and has been in slow decline ever since. As Jason Stollsteimer from the Von Bondies says: “It’s the shell of a great city”. However, from this rubble there is a music community so full of love and support that you find yourself wishing you, too, came from Detroit. The gutted sky scrapers from the city’s long-gone glory days set an appropriately grim backdrop for the hard-hitting garage rock that flourishes in its shadows. Images of anti-gun posters, homeless people, and abandoned buildings are spliced with live footage of some of the best rock bands the town has produced. The juxtaposition is fantastic, giving you a sense of the gritty ugliness of Detroit that inspires this strain of music. Deanne Lovan from the Come-Ons says, “It’s so desolate that there is nothing else to do, other than to create.” Adds Troy Gregory, of The Dirtbombs, “No one is ever gonna give a rat’s ass about Detroit anyways”. Before The White Stripes broke internationally, there was never a sense that something good could come from the Motor City, the bands didn’t expect success, and as such, had nothing to lose. The resulting music was all-or-nothing. The community creates because it has to; the music they make is soul-food and a necessary act of survival.

The White Stripes ushered in a garage rock revival in the early 2000’s, “Anything loud and skuzzy sounding”, rock with a slightly harder edge, originating in basements and abandoned buildings (of which there are many in Detroit) as often as garages, by young people who aren’t often technically proficient at their instruments, but who have a hard need to make music. Detroit is depicted as a town full of music geeks and record collectors, a town with nothing left but a rich musical history: The Temptations, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, The Jackson 5, through Iggy Pop, The Amboy Dukes, Mitch Ryder, and MC5, to more recent stars like Electric Six, The Sights, The Paybacks, the Detroit Cobras, and the Gore Gore Girls. We are taken through the dark bars and bowling alleys that make up the Detroit live music scene: the Garden Bowl, Zoots, The Gold Dollar. These venues are dirty, small and dingy, the sound quality is awful and the rooms get so full you can hardly move, but this is a scene so hardened anyway, and so obsessed with music, that you get the sense these bands could play anywhere and be happy. There is a feeling of community that the more well-known music cities don’t seem to have. Competition only arises between the bands when the media finally finds them.

Once the hype really picked up, around the time that The White Stripes began to hit their stride, journalists started calling Detroit “the next Seattle”. The town didn’t know what hit it – suddenly the local bands were in international magazines and music-lovers flooded the streets looking for the gigs they expected to be on every corner. We witness the drawbacks and the danger that too much publicity can bring in a small community of musicians, where the successes of some bands over others creates a divide, resulting in an atmosphere of envy and greed.

The fickle media and international audiences, always on the lookout for the next big thing, mean your limited time in the spotlight has to be maximized if staying power is to be achieved. The bands that seem most content with their careers, like Rocket 455 and the Demolition Doll Rods, ducked out before they really hit it big. As one of the local musicians said, “It’s lucky for us, because we know the real Rocket 455 but nobody else is ever gonna know about that band, how great they were.” There is a certain beauty to music which is forever contained in its moments. Fortunately for the rest of us, Mr. Petix has captured this social document and shared these great bands with the world.

The only part of the film that is lacking is the fact that Jack and Meg White are nowhere to be found among the interviewed. One speculates that they are simply too big or busy to be involved, but their absence is the Elephant in the room. The other bands being interviewed are so interesting that it scarcely matters, but the omission of the duo that most recently returned attention to the city is sometimes too obvious to ignore.

The point is made that success can change everything, that it can take people away from the original goal which is so clearly what drives the scene in Detroit: the simple need to make music. Ultimately, though, the film leaves us with a message that Detroit has a music scene that is solid, that has had it’s ups and downs but that will continue to inspire great music, regardless of outside attention. It serves as a fantastic introduction to some bands that would maybe otherwise be unknown outside of Detroit, but more than that is a look into a community that is passionate and sincere, making you re-evaluate your own town a little closer, at your own little dive bars and local punks. Whether or not the rest of the world ever gets to know about our local scenes, right now we get that music all to ourselves, and it’s something beautiful that shouldn’t be taken for granted. So next time you’re in your local dive bar, no matter how obscure the venue or small the town, raise your beer to the musicians up there working shit jobs just to pay for their gear, so they can climb on stage and rock out one more time.

Surrealistic Stand-Up

Andy — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:42:08 +0000

A pair of comedy profiles by Andy Gately

A reigning figure in the “alternative comedy” scene, Patton Oswalt has established himself as an indie rockstar of a new breed of stand-up that gigs at hipster dives as often as Chuckle Bucket’s. With an acerbic delivery and a social conscience, his work is as rife with esoteric pop culture references as classical allusions: few working comics can pontificate on the Dukes of Hazzard while simultaneously excoriating the presidential administration. A force of nature on stage, Oswalt continues to chart new comic terrain through an anarchic live show that employs his trademark felicity with words; his latest effort, My Weakness Is Strong (now on CD and DVD), showcases his highly literate brand of comedy that delights in skewering sacred cows and hecklers alike on the business end of his rapier wit.

“Zany,” “wacky” and “goofy” are often terms used to describe this Austin staple who now resides in L.A., but Chuck Watkins’ eccentric gags are a style all their own. A man of Monty Python-esque unpredictability who’s as adept at the art of the punchline as the pratfall, he seems as likely to squirt you with a plastic flower as he is to compose a salty novelty song about you on his baby accordion. On his first full-length comedy album, The Sophistimicated Wit of Chuck Watkins, Esquire, recorded at Capitol City Comedy Club, Chuck’s absurdist wit and madcap antics are given full reign, and the show abounds in inspired silliness and infectious wall-to-wall lunacy. Beyond the goofy pleasures of his screwball charm, a closer look at this loveable wag reveals a man of taste, class and infinite jest. Watkins will be appearing with Dan Cummins in Austin June 23rd-June 26th at Cap City.

Tenure

Andy — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:06:05 +0000

by Jeremy Van Doren

If academia were to be represented by a film genre, it would be the indie comedy. Every year, dozens of entrants vie for a place among the respected few. They strive to cover new territory in a wide variety of ways; from boisterous absurdism, to meticulous quirkiness, to wit as dark as it is razor sharp. For this reason, Tenure is as refreshing as it is normal. Writer-director Mike Million’s film loosely lays out multiple strands of a story that its lead character Charlie (Luke Wilson) barely tugs on as he proceeds through his life. The success of Tenure is its ability to constantly downplay the absurdist hues that color its comedy.

Tenure is set in the small liberal arts college of Gray University, where Charlie Thurber is an assistant professor on the verge of getting, or not getting, tenure. His best friend, Jay Hadley (David Koechner) is a bigfoot obsessed anthropology professor who’s a few sources short of a bibliography. His main opponent for an English professor position is attractive Elaine Grasso (Gretchen Mol). In addition to the break room drama taking place at his school, Charlie simultaneously deals with family drama, an ever-so-smoldering attraction to his rival, and misguided attempts at help by his best friend. With all of the wacky shenanigans poised to consume Charlie’s life, he has reason to be flipping his lid. But he isn’t.

Luke Wilson, who optioned and produced the film, is the perfect man to walk the fine line laid out in Millions’ story. He portrays Charlie in such an admirably even-keel manner, it creates a slow burning humor that eventually ignites into a small, very contained brush fire of funny. With a different cast and director behind it, Tenure could spiral out of control into MTV Film fashion utter madness. Charlie, the entire cast, and the film itself, maintain a perfectly believable pitch despite the many exaggerated stakes present in the plot.

Tenure is less a comedy about overcoming adversity as it is accepting it as a fact of life. It suggests that personal hardship is not something that can beat you down, but something that is there anyway, so while you’re at it, try to not only learn from it, but laugh at it. It’s a subtly delivered and striking stance for a comedy that could have easily veered into satire or farce. Tenure is uplifting in a way that does not feel at all contrived, and its humor stems from the sense that life is back to back, or even simultaneous, absurdity and mundanity. Millions’ unyielding focus on subtlety creates humor that is balanced, believable and intelligent; and a perfect array of natural acting and honest delivery perfectly complement his vision.